WASP-121b – An Ultrahot Gas-Giant Exoplanet with a Stratosphere
Using the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, astronomers have discovered the first unambiguous signs of a hot stratosphere, heated to a blazing 2400 Celsius, in…
Spitzer Space Telescope
Large Near-Earth Asteroid Florence to Pass Earth on September 1
The large near-Earth asteroid named Florence will safely pass by Earth on September 1, 2017, at a distance of about 4.4 million miles (7.0 million…
Astronomers Explain the Varying Glow of Brown Dwarfs
Using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers reveal that the varying glow of brown dwarfs over time can be explained by bands of patchy…
Astronomers Watch as Collapsing Star Turns Into a Black Hole
Using data from the Large Binocular Telescope and NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, astronomers watched as a dying star was likely reborn as a…
Astronomers Identify a Regular Pattern in the Orbits TRAPPIST-1 Planets
Using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has identified a regular pattern in the orbits of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. This…
Hubble Image of the Week – Crab Nebula in Bright Neon Colors
By combining data from several telescopes, astronomers created this captivating new image of the Crab Nebula. The unusual image was produced by combining data from…
Astronomers Discover a Potential Recoiling Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers have discovered a potential recoiling supermassive black hole (CXO J101527.2+625911). This recoiling black hole candidate is located about 3.9 billion light-years from Earth. Supermassive…
Astronomers Discover Earth-Mass ‘Iceball’ Planet OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb
By combining Spitzer and ground-based KMTNet microlensing observations, a team of astronomers has discovered a new planet with the mass of Earth. The planet, called…
NASA’s Chandra Discovers a Mysterious Cosmic Explosion
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered a mysterious flash of X-rays in the Chandra Deep Field-South data. The mysterious X-ray source became 1,000 times brighter…
Kepler Provides Additional Data on TRAPPIST-1
NASA has released additional Kepler data about TRAPPIST-1 – an ultra-cool dwarf star that hosts a total of seven Earth-size planets. On February 22, astronomers…
NASA Discovers Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planets
Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of…
Spitzer Space Telescope Detects Planet Induced Stellar Pulsations
Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has detected unusual pulsations in the outer shell of a star called HAT-P-2. The scientists believe…
Spitzer and Swift Observe Microlensing Event, Pinpoint Brown Dwarf
Using NASA’s Spitzer and Swift Space Telescopes, astronomers discovered a brown dwarf when it and its star passed between Earth and a much more distant…
Spitzer Finishes Its Frontier Fields Observations
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has finished its Frontier Fields observations and astronomers are working to get the data out to the astronomical community. In the…
Spitzer Telescope Views ‘Enterprise’ Nebulae
A new infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope may remind fans of Star Trek. Since ancient times, people have imagined familiar objects when gazing…
Spitzer Provides Astronomers with a New Way to See the Milky Way’s Giant Black Hole
Astronomers are using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to further explore Sagittarius A*. At the center of our Milky Way galaxy lies a cosmic beast called…
Young Star FU Orionis May Hold Clues to Planet Formation
By combining data from two telescopes collected over a 12-year interval, astronomers were able to gain a unique perspective on FU Orionis. In 1936, the…
Astronomers Discover Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly
Using the combined data from Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer, atronomers have found evidence that some early supermassive black holes formed directly from the collapse of…